CN117640523A

CN117640523A - Flow control method and related equipment thereof

Info

Publication number: CN117640523A
Application number: CN202210957692.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张嘉怡
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-10
Filing date: 2022-08-10
Publication date: 2024-03-01

Abstract

The application discloses a flow control method and related equipment thereof, which are applied to a deterministic network. The method comprises the following steps: the acquisition device acquires the flow sent by the field device to the network device and acquires the measurement data of the flow. The acquisition device determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data, wherein the flow characteristic information is used for determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network, and the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network. The acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control equipment. In the application, the equipment which can support the non-support deterministic network in the application scene based on the flow characteristic information obtained by the acquisition device can be suitable for the deterministic network, and the SLA requirement of the flow is ensured, namely, the flow sent by the equipment can be ensured to be ensured by deterministic service.

Description

Flow control method and related equipment thereof

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of communication, in particular to a flow control method and related equipment thereof.

Background

In the industrial internet, part of industrial control services have high reliability and low time delay requirements. Whereas industrial networks need to adapt to the traffic, appropriate network resources are reserved to guarantee the service level agreement (service level agreement, SLA) requirements of the traffic.

Currently, in a time sensitive network (time sensitive network, TSN), a transmitting end device is required to support the TSN network, and further, network devices on a transmission path are configured according to a flow supporting the TSN network given by the transmitting end device, so as to ensure network resource reservation of the flow and end-to-end delay.

However, in the industrial internet, many sending end devices in industrial scenes do not support TSN, it is difficult to give traffic supporting TSN network, and the service life of industrial devices is long, and it is difficult to replace the sending end devices supporting TSN, and because of the lack of the traffic characteristics of the sending end, the SLA requirement of the service is guaranteed, that is, it is difficult to obtain deterministic service guarantee of "end network collaboration".

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a flow control method and related equipment, which are applied to a deterministic network. The equipment which supports the non-deterministic network in the application scene can be suitable for the deterministic network, and the SLA requirement of the flow is guaranteed, namely, the flow sent by the equipment can be guaranteed by deterministic service.

In a first aspect, a flow control method is provided for use in a deterministic network, the deterministic network including an acquisition device, the method comprising:

the acquisition device acquires measurement data of flow sent by the field device to the network device.

The acquisition device determines flow characteristic information according to the acquired measurement data. The flow characteristic information is used for determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network, and the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network.

And after the flow characteristic information is obtained, the acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control equipment, so that the control equipment obtains the flow control information based on the flow characteristic information.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device acquires the measurement data of the flow sent by the field device to the network device, obtains the flow characteristic information based on the measurement data, and sends the flow characteristic information to the control device to obtain the flow control information, the network device can transmit the flow to meet the end-to-end SLA requirement of the deterministic network based on the performance after the flow control information is configured, the field device which supports the deterministic network in the application scene can be suitable for the deterministic network, the SLA requirement of the flow is ensured, and the flow sent by the field device can be ensured to be deterministic service.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the collecting device obtains measurement data of the flow by collecting the flow sent by the field device to the network device. Alternatively, the acquisition device may acquire the measurement data directly from the field device, as is not limited in this regard.

In an embodiment of the present application, the collecting device collects the flow sent by the field device to the network device by itself, and obtains the measurement data, or directly obtains the measurement data from the field device. The scheme is selectively embodied, and applicable application scenes are increased.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the collecting device further includes a storage unit, and before the collecting device obtains the measurement data of the flow rate sent by the field device to the network device, the collecting device further obtains the flow rate from the field device and caches the flow rate in its own storage unit. Then, after the acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the acquisition device receives a first message sent by the control device, where the first message is used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information. The acquisition device then sends the traffic to the network device.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device caches the flow in the storage unit of the acquisition device, and after the network equipment on the transmission path is configured successfully, the performance of the acquisition device meets the SLA requirement of the flow transmitted in the deterministic network, so that the overall SLA requirement of the flow sent to the network equipment by the field equipment is further ensured to be met in the deterministic network.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the acquisition device generates the flow characteristic information through a fitting algorithm based on the measurement data. Optionally, the fitting algorithm includes a fast fourier transform (fast fourier transform, FFT) or periodic map estimation, or the like.

In the embodiment of the application, a specific implementation mode of the acquisition device for obtaining the flow characteristic information based on the measurement data is provided, so that the reliability of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a maximum number of messages in each period, and a maximum message length.

Optionally, in different application scenarios, the period may be a period of the flow or a period of collecting the flow, which may be specifically determined according to the actual situation, and is not limited herein.

In the embodiment of the application, the specific composition of the flow characteristic information is described, so that the reliability of the scheme is improved. And network equipment in the TSN can be configured according to the period of the traffic, the maximum number of messages in each period and the maximum message length, so that the performance of transmitting the traffic meets the end-to-end SLA requirement in the TSN.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a burst accumulated data amount in the period, and a maximum message length.

In embodiments of the present application, network devices in a deterministic internet protocol (deterministic internet protocol, DIP) network may be configured by the period of traffic, the bursty accumulated data volume within the period, and the maximum message length, such that the performance of transmitting traffic meets the end-to-end SLA requirements in the DIP network.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the flow characteristic information includes at least any two of the following:

the period of traffic, the maximum number of messages per period, the maximum message length, the number of burst messages per period, the message length, the burst cumulative data size per period, the maximum burst length, the average rate, and/or the peak rate.

In the embodiment of the application, other forms of flow characteristic information are provided, so that the flexibility of the scheme and applicable application scenes are improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the field device comprises a collecting device, or the network device comprises a collecting device, or the control device comprises a collecting device. It should be noted that the collecting device may also be a separate device, which is not limited herein.

In the embodiment of the application, various forms of the acquisition device in practical application are described, the application range of the scheme is increased, and the flexibility of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the acquisition device acquires the measurement data through an application programming interface (application programming interface, API) or a network interface of the field device.

Specifically, when the field device includes the acquisition device, the acquisition device obtains measurement data and/or flow through an API of the field device.

And when the acquisition device is independent of the field device, the acquisition device acquires measurement data and/or flow through a network interface of the field device.

In embodiments of the present application, the acquisition device acquires measurement data and/or flow from the field device in a variety of ways. The application scene is increased, and the application range of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the collecting device sends the flow characteristic information through a network interface or an API of the control device.

Specifically, when the control device does not include the acquisition device, the acquisition device transmits the flow characteristic information through the network interface of the control device.

And when the control device comprises the acquisition device, the acquisition device transmits the flow characteristic information through the API of the control device.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control equipment in various modes, so that the selectivity of the scheme is embodied.

In one possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the field device includes any one of a programmable logic controller (programmable logic controller, PLC), an Industrial PC (IPC), a distributed control system (distributed control system, DCS), a servo driver, a frequency converter, an input/output Station (IO Station), and any other type of Sensor (Sensor).

In the embodiment of the application, the specific structure of the field device is embodied, and the specific application scene for which the scheme is applicable is embodied.

In a second aspect, there is provided a flow control method for use in a deterministic network comprising a control device, the method comprising:

the control device receives flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device, which is information obtained by the acquisition device in the deterministic network based on measurement data of the flow sent by the field device to the network device.

Then, the control device determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the received flow characteristic information. Wherein, the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment to transmit the flow to meet the SLA requirement of the end-to-end service level agreement of the deterministic network.

And the control equipment sends the flow control information to the network equipment, so that the performance of the network equipment after being configured based on the flow control information meets the end-to-end SLA requirement of the flow transmitted in the deterministic network.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, before the control device determines the flow control information that the flow transmits in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information, the control device further obtains device information of the network device, and SLA requirements that the flow transmits in the deterministic network. And the control device determines flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, the device information and the SLA requirement.

In the embodiment of the application, the control equipment determines the flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, the equipment information and the SLA requirement, can accurately control the performance of the network equipment to meet the SLA requirement of the flow in the deterministic network, and improves the reliability of the scheme.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, after the control device sends the flow control information to the network device, the control device may further receive a second message sent by the network device, where the second message is used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information.

In the embodiment of the application, the network equipment on the transmission path of the control equipment is informed of successful configuration through the second message, the subsequent flow transmission meets the SLA requirement, and the flexibility of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a case where the storage unit of the collecting device caches the traffic, the control device sends a first message to the collecting device, where the first message is used to instruct the collecting device to send the traffic.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device can know that the network equipment in the deterministic network is successfully configured based on the flow control information based on the first message, the performance of the network equipment at the moment meets the SLA requirement of the flow transmitted in the deterministic network, and the acquisition device sends the flow based on the first message, so that the reliability of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the control device receives the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device through a network interface or an API of the acquisition device.

Specifically, when the control device does not include the acquisition device, the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device is received through a network interface of the control device.

And when the control equipment comprises the acquisition device, the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device is received through an API of the control equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the control equipment receives the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device in various modes, so that the scheme selectivity is embodied.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a maximum number of messages in each period, and a maximum message length.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a burst accumulated data amount in the period, and a maximum message length.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the flow characteristic information includes at least any two of the following:

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the device information includes at least any one of the following:

device identification, device forwarding delay, port bandwidth, maximum transmission unit, gating table, accuracy of gating table or accuracy of period.

In the embodiment of the application, the specific content of the equipment information is described, so that the flexibility of the scheme is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the SLA requirement includes at least any one of the following:

end-to-end delay, probability value of reliability, jitter, or transmission rate of traffic transmission in deterministic networks.

In the embodiment of the application, the specific content of the SLA requirement is described, and the reliability and flexibility of the scheme are improved.

In a third aspect, there is provided a collecting device having the functionality to implement the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In an embodiment of the present application, the acquisition device of the third aspect performs the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a control device is provided, which has the functionality to implement the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect. The functions can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In an embodiment of the present application, the control device of the fourth aspect performs the method described in the second aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the second aspect of the present application.

In a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the control device further includes the acquisition device of the third aspect.

The acquisition device in the control apparatus of the fourth aspect in an embodiment of the present application performs the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect of the present application.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided another communication device, which may be the aforementioned acquisition device or control device, comprising a processor coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions, the processor being configured to execute the instructions in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method described in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect of the present application, or to perform the method described in the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect of the present application.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided another communication device, which may be the aforementioned acquisition device or control device, comprising a processor for executing a computer program (or computer executable instructions) stored in a memory, which when executed causes the execution of the method as in the first aspect, the respective possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second aspect and the respective possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In one possible implementation, the processor and memory are integrated together;

in another possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device.

The communication device further comprises a communication interface for the communication device to communicate with other devices, such as transmission or reception of data and/or signals. By way of example, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface.

A seventh aspect provides a field device comprising the acquisition device as provided in the third, fifth or sixth aspect.

In one possible implementation of the seventh aspect, the field device includes any one of PLC, IPC, DCS, a servo driver, a frequency converter, an I/O station, or a sensor.

An eighth aspect provides a network device comprising the acquisition apparatus as provided in the third, fifth or sixth aspect.

In an embodiment of the present application, the acquisition device in the network apparatus of the eighth aspect performs the method described in the first aspect of the present application or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

A ninth aspect provides a transmission system comprising one or more field devices provided in the seventh aspect and/or one or more acquisition devices provided in the third, fifth or sixth aspect, or field devices in one possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method described in the first aspect, any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect of the present application to be performed.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer readable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method described in the first aspect, any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect, the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect of the present application to be performed.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a deterministic network architecture that can be used to implement embodiments of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network suitable for use in the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for implementing flow control according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of information obtained by a control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of SLA requirements provided by embodiments of the present application;

FIG. 6 is another schematic diagram of implementing a flow control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7a is another schematic diagram of a network suitable for use in the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7b is a schematic diagram of a field device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another field device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic hardware structure of an acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is another schematic diagram of a network suitable for use in the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is another schematic diagram of a network suitable for use in the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the application provides a flow control method and related equipment thereof, which are applied to a deterministic network. The equipment which supports the non-deterministic network in the application scene can be suitable for the deterministic network, and the SLA requirement of the flow is guaranteed, namely, the flow sent by the equipment can be guaranteed by deterministic service.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application and in the above-described figures, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and are merely illustrative of the manner in which the embodiments of the application described herein have been described for objects of the same nature. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Before describing the embodiments of the present application, the relevant content of the deterministic network is briefly described to facilitate the subsequent understanding of the embodiments of the present application.

Deterministic network is a network technology for providing deterministic service quality, which is a new technology for providing end-to-end deterministic service quality guarantee for various services on the basis of Ethernet. The deterministic network features can provide deterministic service quality, flexibly switch deterministic service and non-deterministic service, autonomously control the grade of the deterministic service quality, comprehensively enable industrial upgrading, support the requirements of large-scale machine communication and vision, remote control, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet, agricultural Internet and intelligent service industry, and are integrated and diversified in global cooperation through the service capability of the deterministic network.

The deterministic quality of service (quality of service, QOS) may provide, among other things, an "on-time, accurate" quality of data transmission service. Illustratively, the deterministic QOS includes: low latency, low jitter, low packet loss rate, high bandwidth, high reliability, and so on.

Currently deterministic network technologies mainly include: flexible ethernet (flexible ethernet, flexE), TSN, deterministic network (deterministic networking, detNet), deterministic internet protocol (deterministic internet protocol, DIP) technology, deterministic WiFi (DetWiFi), 5G deterministic network (5G deterministic networking,5GDN), etc.

For a clearer description of a deterministic network architecture that can be used to implement embodiments of the present application, as shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a deterministic network architecture that can be used to implement embodiments of the present application. Included in the network are a sender 101, a receiver 104, and one or more network devices 103. Where the sender 101 is configured to send traffic at the end, which may then be sent in a deterministic network via the network device 103 and eventually received by the receiver. The network may also include a control device 102 for managing and controlling, among other things, one or more network devices 103 that are in the process of deterministic network transmissions. For example, one or more network devices 103 are controlled to reserve resources for traffic sent by the sender 101, ensuring that the SLA requirements of the traffic are met during deterministic network transmissions. The control device may be a stand alone device, such as a centralized network configuration (centralized network configuration, CNC) controller or a server, as examples and is not limited herein.

The deterministic network structure is only one possible implementation form, and in some possible designs, the control device 102 may be integrated with any network device 103, for example, the control device 102 is integrated on a boundary network device of the sender 101, or may be a combination of one or more functional modules including the control device 102 and the network device 103, so long as the corresponding management and control functions can be logically implemented together, which may be specifically determined according to actual requirements, and is not limited herein. By way of example, the network device 103 may be a switch, a router, or a network card belonging to the sender 101, and is not limited herein.

In the deterministic network architecture described above, such as TSN application scenarios in the industrial internet, in addition to requiring the network device 103 to support TSN, the sender 101 is also required to have the relevant capability to support TSN. However, most field devices in the current industrial scene do not have the capability of supporting the TSN and cannot send traffic adapting to the TSN, and the replacement of the field devices in the industrial scene requires huge cost, so that the SLA requirement of the traffic or the traffic of most field devices not supporting the TSN in the industrial internet cannot be met currently.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the embodiments of the present application first provide a flow control method and related devices, which are applied to a deterministic network. The method can enable the transmission performance of the flow sent by the field device which does not support the deterministic network in the deterministic network to meet the end-to-end SLA requirement, and obtain the deterministic service assurance. In a specific embodiment, the flow control method provided by the application can be implemented by a deterministic network including a collection device and a control device.

Specifically, the acquisition device acquires measurement data of flow sent by the field device to the network device, determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data, and sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, then the control device determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network based on the flow characteristic information, and sends the flow control information to the network device for transmitting the flow in the deterministic network, wherein the flow control information is used for controlling the flow penetrating performance of the network device to meet the end-to-end SLA requirement of the deterministic network.

For a better understanding of embodiments of the present application, a flow control method provided by embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate, with the development of technology and the appearance of new scenes, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are applicable to similar technical problems. Referring first to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network suitable for a flow control method according to an embodiment of the present application, which specifically includes:

A field device 201, a collection apparatus 202, one or more network devices 203, a control device 204, and a receiving device 205. Specifically, the field device 201 may include: at least any one of a programmable logic controller (programmable logic controller, PLC), an Industrial PC (IPC), a distributed control system (distributed control system, DCS), a servo driver, a frequency converter, an input/output Station (IO Station), and any other type of Sensor or Actuator. The present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to industrial end devices in the field of industrial production, such as coal mine, chemical industry, electric power, steel, textile, semiconductor manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing, or may be applied to other devices that do not support deterministic networks in other application scenarios.

The receiving device 205 may also be any of the field devices described above, and is not limited in this particular regard.

The network device may be a switch, a router, or a network card of the device, etc., and is not limited in this particular regard.

Specifically, traffic sent by the field device 201 to the receiving device 205 may be routed through one or more of the network devices 203. Specifically, when the field device 201 sends a flow to the network device 203 at the boundary, the flow will first pass through the collecting device 202, and the collecting device 202 obtains measurement data of the flow, and determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data. And the collecting device 202 sends the flow characteristic information to the control device 204, so that the control device 204 obtains flow control information based on the flow characteristic information, and sends the flow control information to one or more network devices 203, where the flow control information is used to control the performance of the network devices to transmit the flow to meet the end-to-end SLA requirement of the deterministic network.

In the following, in connection with the network described in fig. 2, in particular, in the case where the service of the field device 201 has an SLA requirement for data transmission, one implementation of the flow control method provided in the embodiment of the present application is as follows in the example of fig. 3, and fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of implementing the flow control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, specifically as follows:

in one possible implementation, the acquisition device acquires from the field device measurement data of the flow rate sent by the field device to the network device. Specifically, the field device obtains measurement data based on the traffic sent to the network device and sends the measurement data to the acquisition device. For example, refer specifically to step S1 and step S2 in fig. 3:

s1, the field device acquires measurement data according to the flow.

Specifically, the field device samples the traffic to obtain measurement data, which may be from data to be sent by an application layer of the field device, or from data link layer/network layer packet-grabbing data. The measurement data may include a length of a message of the traffic in at least one acquisition period. The technical units of the acquisition period may be units of microseconds (μs), milliseconds (ms), seconds(s), or the like. The count unit of the length of the message is a bit (binary bit) or a byte (byte). Exemplary, wherein the measurement data may be, for example, formatted as { time; message length }, a series of sequences. The specific steps are as follows:

The following describes obtaining measurement data in at least one acquisition period based on two ways of obtaining the length of the message:

in the first mode, the message length of the flow in each acquisition period is counted to obtain measurement data.

Illustratively, the field device is operated at a capture period ΔT _k Collecting the length of accumulated messages in a data stream to obtain a measurement data format { time; message length } sequence X.

Acquisition period DeltaT _k The flow rate can be set according to the acquisition requirement of the flow rate. For example, the acquisition period DeltaT may be a constant value of 20ms, resulting in a sequenceWherein the first row is the sampling time, unit ms, and the second row is the message length, unit byte.

And secondly, determining the message length of the flow in each acquisition period according to the obtained time stamp and the message length of the message to obtain measurement data.

For example, the field device may obtain a time stamp and a message length for each message. And determining the acquisition period to which the message belongs according to the time stamp of each message. And determining the accumulated message length of the flow in each acquisition period according to the message length of each message.

For example, the information of the acquired message, the field device will belong to the acquisition period deltat _k The length of the message corresponding to the time stamp is accumulated to obtain the acquisition period delta T _k Cumulative message length A in _k Denoted as { sample time T } _k Cumulative message length A _k E.g. the aforementioned sequences }As shown. Wherein the first row represents the sampling instant T _k The second row represents the total length of the message accumulated between two sampling moments, i.e. the accumulated message length A _k Cumulative message length A _k Is shown at sampling time T _k The sum of the lengths of the sampled messages can also be understood as the time T from the last sampling time _k-1 By the current sampling instant, i.e. DeltaT _k The sum of the lengths of the messages arriving between them.

In one possible implementation, the sampling instants and accumulated message length { T may be stored in a dual precision format _k ,A _k The storage space occupied by the N point sampling data is 8byte×2×n.

In the embodiment of the application, the field device obtains the measurement data in two modes, so that the application scene of the scheme and the selectivity and flexibility of the scheme are improved.

S2, the field device sends measurement data to the acquisition device.

Specifically, after obtaining the measurement data, the field device performs step S2 to send the measurement data to the acquisition device.

Optionally, the field device sends traffic to the network device in real time while performing subsequent steps. Alternatively, the acquisition device further comprises a storage unit, and the acquisition device further acquires the flow from the field device and caches the flow in the storage unit. Specifically, the traffic is temporarily buffered in the acquisition device, waiting for the performance of the configuration network device to meet the SLA requirements of the traffic for transmission in the deterministic network.

S3, the acquisition device determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data.

After the acquisition device obtains the measurement data, the flow characteristic information is determined according to the measurement data.

For example, after the acquisition device operates the modeling algorithm to calculate the measurement data to obtain flow characteristic information, for example, after the modeling algorithm is operated on the sequence X described in the foregoing step S1, the flow characteristic information such as the period t=20 ms of the flow, the number n=1 of messages per cycle, the maximum message length l=80 byte, etc. or the flow characteristic information such as the period t=20 ms of the flow, the data quantity a=80 byte per cycle, the maximum message length l=80 byte, etc. may be obtained.

It should be noted that the foregoing period is a sampling period, which is merely used as an example for understanding the embodiments of the present application, and it is to be understood that, in other scenarios, an application layer of a field device may directly determine that the foregoing period is a transmission period of a transmission traffic of the field device, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, in some industrial scenarios, the combination of the flow characteristic information may also be a period, the number of burst messages per period, and a message length (fixed value); or in some other application scenarios, the combination of the traffic characteristic information may also be a period, a burst accumulated data amount (byte) in each period, and a maximum message length (byte); or maximum burst, average rate and/or peak rate; it can be understood that in actual situations, the flow characteristic information may be a combination of information specified by other forms, and the flow characteristic information may be used for the acquisition device to read, analyze and identify the flow, and support the control device to obtain the flow control information. In the embodiment of the application, the specific content of the flow characteristic information is described in detail, so that the reliability and the selectivity of the scheme are improved.

It should be noted that the modeling algorithm may be a fitting algorithm, such as a fast fourier transform (fast fourier transform, FFT) or a periodic map estimation, etc., and it is understood that other algorithms may be used to determine the flow characteristic information based on the measurement data in practical situations, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

And S4, the acquisition device sends flow characteristic information to the control equipment.

The acquisition device acquires the flow characteristic information and then sends the flow characteristic information to the control equipment.

S5, the control equipment determines flow control information according to the flow characteristic information.

And the control equipment determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information. The flow control information is used to control the performance of one or more network devices in the deterministic network to transmit traffic to meet the end-to-end SLA requirements of the deterministic network.

In a possible implementation, before step S5, the control device further obtains device information of the network device, and SLA requirements of traffic transmitted at the deterministic network device. The control device then determines flow control information based on the flow characteristic information, device information, and SLA requirements.

The control device may be, for example, a network controller that includes one or more network devices within a control domain. The control device can also obtain the source address and the destination address of the flow from the acquisition device, so as to determine the transmission path of the flow.

Then, as shown in fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of information acquired by the control device according to the embodiment of the present application. The control device can query interfaces of all network devices in the transmission path and acquire device information of the network devices, and optionally, the device information at least includes a plurality of items of device identification, device forwarding delay, port bandwidth, maximum transmission unit, gating table, accuracy of the gating table or accuracy of period, and the like, and the method can be specifically determined by actual application scenarios of deterministic networks. For example, in a TSN network, the device information may include device identification, device forwarding delay, port bandwidth, and gating tables. In DIP networks, device information may include device identification, device forwarding delay, port bandwidth, and cycle accuracy.

It will be appreciated that the device information in the TSN network and DIP network is used herein for understanding the embodiments of the present application by way of example only, and in actual situations, other device information or combinations of device information may be used, and the specific disclosure is not limited thereto.

In the embodiment of the application, specific content of the equipment information is described, and reliability of the scheme is improved.

In addition, the control device also obtains the SLA requirements for traffic delivery in the deterministic network. Optionally, the SLA requirement includes at least any one of an end-to-end delay, a probability value of reliability, jitter, or a transmission rate of traffic transmitted in the deterministic network, and is not limited herein. And optionally, the SLA requirements are from an industrial controller, industrial configuration software, or user configuration.

For example, referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating SLA requirements provided by an embodiment of the present application. Among these, SLA requirements for deterministic networks for multiple business or industrial manufacturing scenarios are exemplified. The SLA requirement in the remote control scene comprises a time delay requirement of 5ms and a reliability probability value of 99.999%; the SLA requirement of the discrete automation motion control scene comprises a time delay requirement of 1ms, a jitter requirement of 1 μs, a reliability probability value of 99.9999, the SLA requirement of the discrete automation scene comprises a time delay requirement of 10ms, a jitter requirement of 1ms, a reliability probability value of 99.99%, and the SLA requirement of process automation remote control and process automation monitoring, which are not described in detail herein. It should be noted that the example of fig. 5 is merely used as an example to understand SLA requirements of a service or a scenario in an embodiment of the present application on a deterministic network, and it is to be understood that, in a practical situation, SLA requirements corresponding to a specific service or scenario are determined according to specific requirements, which is not limited herein.

In the embodiment of the application, the concrete content of the SLA requirement is described, and the reliability of the scheme is improved.

The control device then determines flow control information based on the flow characteristic information, device information, and SLA requirements. For ease of understanding, an application scenario in which a deterministic network is a TSN is exemplified below. Wherein the network device supports an IEEE 802.1Qbv defined time-aware shaper (TAS), forwards specific traffic according to a time gating table (gate control list, GCL). The device information obtained by the control device includes the device identifier 1, the port bandwidth 100M, and the GCL of one network device, and further includes the device identifier 2, the port bandwidth 100M, and the GCL of another network device.

And the SLA requirement of the flow obtained by the control equipment is 15ms of the upper limit of the end-to-end time delay.

Then the control device inputs the obtained flow characteristic information such as the period t=20ms of the flow as shown in the previous description, the number n=1 of the messages of each cycle, the maximum message length l=80 byte, and the like, the device information and the upper limit of the end-to-end time delay 15ms as modeling algorithms. Then, through the operation of the modeling algorithm, the GCL configured for the traffic on each network device is: [ device identifier 1: oc c ]; [ device identification 2: and c, c.

Where o (open) indicates that the gating is open, allowing traffic to pass, i.e. sent through the present network device, c (close) indicates that the gating is closed, and the traffic is not allowed to pass, and is buffered in the queue. The duration of each of the o/c states is 5ms and loops through the four states to the first state. Wherein, the port bandwidth of the network device is 100M, and the maximum message length 80byte <100m×5ms can be satisfied within the state duration of 5ms.

I.e. the traffic control information in the TSN network is the GCL for each network device described above.

In the above example of TSN networks, the delay of the TSN network where the traffic is controlled by GCL is between 5ms and 10ms, and not more than 10ms, and when the delay of the receiving device for processing the traffic is not more than 5ms, the upper limit of the end-to-end delay of the traffic can be satisfied by 15ms. I.e. the network device configures the traffic transmission based on the traffic control information.

In addition, in order to more fully understand the embodiments of the present application, a deterministic network is also described below as an example of a DIP application scenario. The network devices support the DIP function, and time synchronization is completed between the network devices through 1588 protocol or IEEE 802.1 AS protocol. In fig. 2, the outgoing interfaces of the network devices are all divided into uniform periods T (for example, t=10us), and then the network devices determine that the traffic is transmitted in a specific period according to the tag. The tag is used to identify the number of cycles that traffic is sent during the cycle. The device information obtained by the control device includes a device identifier 1 of one network device, the precision of the period, i.e., t=10us, and a port bandwidth 100M, and further includes a device identifier 2 of the other network device, t=10us, and a port bandwidth 100M, and a label mapping relationship between the two network devices, where the label mapping relationship is p=100 periods (specifically, p is a period offset of the test message from an outgoing interface of the network device of the device identifier 1 to an outgoing interface of the network device of the device identifier 2).

Then the control device takes the obtained traffic characteristic information such as t=20ms, a=80byte, a maximum message length l=80byte and the like of the traffic as shown in the foregoing, and the foregoing device information and an end-to-end delay upper bound of 15ms as inputs of a modeling algorithm. The operation of the modeling algorithm results in that the label corresponding to each network device: [ device identifier 1: f1 =500 ]; [ device identification 2: f2 =600 ].

Wherein the period is 10us, F represents the label, the network device of device ID 1 sends traffic in the 500 th period, and the network device of device ID 2 sends traffic in the 600 th period. From the above, the time delay of the traffic passing through the two network devices is 6.01ms, and under the condition that the time delay of the receiving device receiving the processed data does not exceed 5ms, the configuration of the network devices can meet the requirement of 15ms of the end-to-end time delay upper bound of the traffic in the DIP network.

I.e. the flow control information in the DIP network is the label corresponding to each network device described above. Alternatively, the control device may obtain only the label of the border network device, i.e., [ device identification 1: f1 =500 ].

In a possible implementation manner, the control device further determines flow control information corresponding to the n flows respectively according to the received flow characteristic information sent by the n (n is greater than or equal to 2) acquisition devices.

In addition, optionally, when the control device receives the flow characteristic information sent by the n collecting devices, the control device determines a transmission path of the flow corresponding to each collecting device, and when at least two flows are sent through the same output port of at least one network device, the control device calculates the flow control information corresponding to the at least two flows to obtain a target flow control information, and the target flow control information is used for the network device to configure the same output port. And under the condition that at least two flows are sent through different output ports of the network equipment, the control equipment determines flow control information of the corresponding at least two flows according to the flow characteristic information of the at least two flows.

In the embodiment of the application, the control device can also obtain the flow control information for configuring each network device according to the flow characteristic information sent by the plurality of acquisition devices, so that the application scene of the scheme is increased, and the application range of the scheme is improved.

The control device then performs step S6, specifically as follows:

and S6, the control equipment sends flow control information to the network equipment.

The control device sends corresponding flow control information to one or more network devices.

Illustratively, in the TSN network example of step S5 described above, the control device will obtain the GCL [ device identification 1: the occc ] to the network device of device id 1, and to the GCL device id 2: c oc ] to the network device of device identification 2. Alternatively, the control device may send flow control information to the network device via the netconf protocol or a network data modeling language yet another next generation (yang). The network device then switches configuration after receiving the GCL.

In the DIP network example of the aforementioned step S5, the control device will get the label: [ device identifier 1: f1 =500 ] and [ device identification 2: f2 =600 ] to the corresponding network devices, respectively, and then each network device transmits traffic based on the tag. Or will only get device identity 1: f1 =500 ] to the border network device of device identification 1, the label F2 of the network device of device identification 2 can be determined according to the period offset between the upstream and downstream devices, and the label is updated to F2. Specifically, the network device of the device identifier 1 sends a test message to the network device of the device identifier 2, and a learning algorithm is used to obtain a message arrival time offset between the test message and the network device of the device identifier 2, p=100 periods (p is a period offset of the test message from an output interface of the network device of the device identifier 1 to an output interface of the network device of the device identifier 2), and then each network device sends traffic based on a corresponding label.

In one possible implementation, when at least two flows are sent via the same output port of at least one network device, the control device sends at least one target flow control information to the network device for the network device to configure the same output port. And/or, in case at least two flows are sent via different output ports of the network device, the control device sends flow control information of the at least two flows to the network device for the network device to configure the different output ports.

In a possible implementation manner, when the traffic is being sent by the network device in real time, after the network device is configured successfully, the network device sends the traffic which is not forwarded yet in a configured manner, so as to meet the SLA requirement of the deterministic network.

In the embodiment of the application, after the network equipment is configured successfully according to the flow control information, the network equipment sends the subsequent flow to be forwarded in a configured mode, so that the SLA requirement of the flow in the deterministic network is met.

In one possible implementation, the network device sends a second message to the control device after the configuration is successful. The specific steps are as follows:

And S7, the network equipment sends a second message to the control equipment.

The network device sends a second message to the control device, the second message being used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information.

Optionally, when the collecting device further includes a storage unit, and the storage unit caches the traffic, step S8 and step S9 are further executed, which specifically includes:

s8, the control equipment sends a first message to the acquisition device.

And under the condition that the acquisition device further comprises a storage unit, the storage unit caches the traffic, the control equipment sends a first message to the acquisition device, and the first message is used for indicating that the network equipment in the deterministic network is successfully configured based on the traffic control information.

In the embodiment of the application, the collecting device stores the flow, the control device sends the first message to the collecting device, the collecting device can know that the network equipment in the deterministic network is successfully configured based on the flow control information based on the first message, the performance of the network equipment at the moment meets the SLA requirement of the flow transmitted in the deterministic network, and the collecting device sends the flow based on the first message, so that the reliability of the scheme is improved.

And S9, the acquisition device sends the traffic to the network equipment.

After the acquisition device receives the first message, if the network equipment is determined to be successfully configured based on the flow control information, the acquisition device sends the flow cached in the storage unit to the network equipment.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device acquires the measurement data of the flow from the field device, obtains the flow characteristic information and sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the control device obtains the flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, and configures the network device based on the flow control information, so that the performance of the network device on the flow transmission path meets the SLA requirement of the flow in the deterministic network. The scheme ensures that the field device which does not support the deterministic network can be applied to the deterministic network, and the field device normally transmits the traffic. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

Another flow control method proposed in the present application is still described on the network of fig. 2, specifically, in the case where the service of the field device 201 has an SLA requirement for data transmission, another implementation of the flow control method is as follows in the example of fig. 6, and fig. 6 is another schematic diagram of implementing the flow control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, specifically as follows:

in another possible implementation, the acquisition device 202 acquires the traffic sent by the field device 201 to the network device 203, and then obtains the traffic measurement data. For example, refer specifically to step A1 and step A2 of fig. 4:

a1, the field device sends flow to the acquisition device.

Traffic sent by the field device to the collection device and the field device to the network device.

Alternatively, the flow may be a flow sent by the field device to the network device in real time, where the flow is sent to the collecting device first, and then sent to the network device via the collecting device. Or the acquisition device further comprises a storage unit, the acquisition device caches the received traffic in the storage unit, and then waits for the performance of the configuration network equipment to meet the SLA requirement of traffic transmission in the deterministic network.

A2, the acquisition device acquires measurement data according to the flow.

The acquisition device acquires the received flow sent to the network equipment by the field equipment, and obtains the measurement data of the flow. Specifically, the specific manner in which the collecting device collects the flow to obtain the measurement data is similar to the manner in which the field device obtains the measurement data in step S1 in fig. 3, which is not described herein.

A3, the acquisition device determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data.

And A4, the acquisition device sends flow characteristic information to the control equipment.

A5, the control equipment determines flow control information according to the flow characteristic information.

And the control equipment determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information.

In a possible implementation manner, before step A5, the control device further obtains device information of the network device, and SLA requirements of traffic transmitted by the deterministic network device. The control device then determines flow control information based on the flow characteristic information, device information, and SLA requirements.

And A6, the control equipment transmits flow control information to the network equipment.

In one possible implementation manner, the scheme further includes step A7:

and A7, the network equipment sends a second message to the control equipment.

Optionally, when the collecting device further includes a storage unit, and the storage unit caches the traffic, step A8 and step A9 are further executed, which specifically includes:

a8, the control equipment sends a first message to the acquisition device.

And A9, the acquisition device transmits the flow to the network equipment.

It should be noted that, the steps A3 to A9 are similar to those described in the steps S3 to S9 in fig. 3, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

In the embodiment of the application, the acquisition device acquires the flow sent by the field device to the network device, obtains the measurement data of the flow, obtains the flow characteristic information and sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the control device obtains the flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, and configures the network device based on the flow control information, so that the performance of the network device on the flow transmission path meets the SLA requirement of the flow in the deterministic network. The scheme ensures that field devices which do not support a deterministic network can be applied to a deterministic network. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

It should be noted that the foregoing examples of deterministic networks as TSNs and DIP application scenarios are only for understanding embodiments of the present application, and are not limited to the essence of the present application, and it should be understood that, in practical situations, the present application can also be applied to deterministic networks such as FlexE, detNet, detWiFi and 5 GDNs, and the like, and are not limited herein.

In order to implement the functions of the method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the acquisition device and the control device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, where the functions are implemented in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module. Some of the functions described above are performed in a hardware configuration, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software modules, depending on the specific application of the solution and design constraints.

It should be noted that, in one possible implementation manner, referring to the example of fig. 7a, fig. 7a is another schematic diagram of a network suitable for a flow control method according to an embodiment of the present application. The field device may include a capture device, wherein the capture device is implemented by an internal software and/or hardware module of the field device.

In particular, the function of the acquisition device may be implemented by a software module in the field device. Referring to fig. 7b, fig. 7b is a schematic diagram of a field device according to an embodiment of the present application. Wherein the application layer of the field device 700 includes the acquisition means. The field device 700 can be divided into a Hardware layer (Hardware) 703, a Kernel layer (Kernel) 702, and an Application layer (User/Application) 701.

The hardware layer 703 includes hardware modules such as a network card/embedded network port, a physical layer (PHY) chip, a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), and a memory (memory).

The kernel layer 702 specifically includes an operating system.

The operating system may also be an embedded system of a hardware module running on the micro control unit (Microcontroller Unit, MCU), and the hardware layer in fig. 7b corresponds to the hardware unit in the hardware module such as MCU.

The operating system comprises the following components: basic kernel (such as multi-core, multi-process, process communication, virtual memory, etc.), network protocol (such as transmission control protocol (Transmission Control Protocol, TCP) or user datagram protocol (User Datagram Protocol, UDP)), file system, and various hardware drivers.

The application layer 701 specifically includes: various Applications (APP) are used by users. In addition, the application layer includes various protocol applications. As shown for example in fig. 7b, the application layer 701 further comprises: an object connection and embedding (OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) for Process Control, OPC) for process control, an OPC unified architecture (OPC unified architecture, OPC UA) semantic model and OPC UA communication module, a PROFINET service (PROFINET services) of a PROFINET protocol, an EtherCAT application (EtherCAT APP) of an ethernet control automation technology (Ether control automation technology, etherCAT) protocol, and one or more of an EtherCAT control center (EtherCAT Master core), a CIP semantic model and CIP communication module of a universal industrial protocol (common industrial protocol, CIP) and the like.

In addition, the application layer 701 further includes acquisition middleware for implementing the functions of the acquisition device described above. Wherein the collection middleware can be invoked by the application layer as a software development kit (software development kit, SDK). Specifically, the collecting middleware comprises: an application programming interface (application programming interface, API) for interacting with applications and a user network interface (user-network interface, UNI) interface for communicating with control devices. In addition, the collecting middleware may further include middleware corresponding to various protocol applications, such as OPC UA middleware corresponding to OPC UA protocol, PROFINET middleware corresponding to PROFINET protocol, etherCAT middleware corresponding to EtherCAT protocol, and CIP middleware corresponding to CIP protocol in fig. 7 b. In addition, the collecting middleware also comprises a UNI interface for communicating with the control device.

Specifically, the collecting middleware is configured to implement the functions of the collecting device in the embodiments of the methods described in fig. 3 and fig. 6, which are not described herein.

It should be understood that, in fig. 7b, the SDK of the application layer 701 is taken as an example of the acquisition device, and when the function of the acquisition device is implemented by software, the acquisition device may be a software module installed in an operating system, or the acquisition device may be a software module independent of a kernel, which may not be limited in this embodiment.

In one possible design, when the function of the acquisition device is implemented by a communication module (e.g., a network card) in the field device, a schematic diagram of another field device according to an embodiment of the present application is shown in fig. 8. Wherein field device 800 comprises: a system module 803 supporting operating system operations, wherein the system module 803 may comprise a CPU of the field device 800 and an operating system running on the CPU, or the system module 803 may further comprise an embedded processing module (e.g., MCU) in the field device 800 and an embedded system running thereon, etc. In addition, field device 800 also includes a power module 804 for providing power and an I/O module 805 for input/output.

In addition, field device 800 also includes an application layer 801 that runs on an operating system. Similar to the application layer 701 in fig. 7b, the application layer 801 may include various types of APPs used by users, and various protocol applications (e.g., profinet, etherCAT, etherNet/IP, etc.).

In addition, field device 800 also includes a communication module 802 for interacting with other devices. Specifically, the communication module 802 may be a hardware module such as a network card or an embedded network port. In one aspect, the communication module 802 is configured to implement a corresponding function of the network layer 8022, for example, a function of implementing data forwarding and implementing reliability transmission by using a corresponding communication protocol; on the other hand, the communication module 802 also runs a collection middleware 8021 for realizing the functions of the collection device.

Fig. 7b and fig. 8 are diagrams illustrating the software structure of the field device, and the form of the acquisition device provided in this embodiment in the field device is described. In another implementation, the functionality of the acquisition device may also be implemented by all or part of the hardware components within the field device, or the functionality of the acquisition device may also be implemented by a hardware device that is independent of the field. Specifically, the collecting middleware is configured to implement the functions of the collecting device in the embodiments of the methods described in fig. 3 and fig. 6, which are not described herein.

As shown in fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic hardware structure of an acquisition device according to the embodiment of the present application. In practice, the acquisition device 900 may include all or a portion of the hardware modules of the field devices in the network. Alternatively, the acquisition device 900 may be a hardware device independent of the field device. For example, the acquisition device 900 may be a hardware device alone.

Wherein, the acquisition device 900 may include: a processor 901, a communication interface 902, and a memory 903. Wherein the number of processors 901 in the acquisition device 900 may be one or more, one processor being exemplified in fig. 9. In the present embodiment, the processor 901, the communication interface 902, and the memory 903 may be connected by a bus system or other means, wherein the connection through the bus system 904 is illustrated in fig. 9.

The processor 901 may be a central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor 901 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (complex programmable logic device, CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), general-purpose array logic (generic array logic, GAL), or any combination thereof.

The communication interface 902 is used for receiving and transmitting data, and in particular, the communication interface 902 may include a receiving interface and a transmitting interface. Wherein the receiving interface may be used for receiving data and the transmitting interface may be used for transmitting data. The number of communication interfaces 902 may be one or more.

The memory 903 may include volatile memory (RAM), such as random-access memory (RAM); the memory 903 may also include a nonvolatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a flash memory (flash memory), a hard disk (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD); the memory 903 may also include a combination of the above types of memory. The memory 903 may store, for example, the aforementioned advertisement messages, traffic, and the like.

Optionally, the memory 903 stores an operating system and programs, executable modules or data structures, or a subset thereof, or an extended set thereof, where the programs may include various operational instructions for performing various operations. The operating system may include various system programs for implementing various underlying services and handling hardware-based tasks. The processor 901 may read the program in the memory 903 to implement the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

The memory 903 may be a memory device in the acquisition device 900 or may be a memory device independent of the acquisition device 900.

The bus system 904 may be a peripheral component interconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The bus system 904 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 9, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

Specifically, the collecting device 900 is used to implement the functions of the collecting device in the embodiments of the methods described in fig. 3 and fig. 6, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

In one possible implementation, as shown in the example of fig. 10, fig. 10 is another schematic diagram of a network applicable to the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application. The boundary network device of the traffic sent by the field device can also collect the device, and the collecting device can be realized by internal software and/or hardware modules of the boundary network device. The acquisition device then acquires measurement data and/or flow from the network interface of the field device, and the control device receives flow characteristic information from the network interface of the acquisition device. The structure examples of fig. 7b, fig. 8 and fig. 9 are similar to those described above, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here. The collecting device is used to implement the functions of the collecting device in the embodiments of the methods described in fig. 3 and fig. 6, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

It should be noted that, in another possible implementation manner, as shown in the example of fig. 11, fig. 11 is another schematic diagram of a network suitable for the flow control method according to the embodiment of the present application. The control device may comprise a detection device, which may be implemented by internal software and/or hardware modules of the control device. At this time, the acquisition device acquires measurement data and/or flow from the network interface of the field device, and the acquisition device transmits flow characteristic information to the control device through the API of the acquisition device. The structure examples of fig. 7b, fig. 8 and fig. 9 are similar to those described above, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted here. The collecting device is used to implement the functions of the collecting device in the embodiments of the methods described in fig. 3 and fig. 6, and detailed descriptions thereof are omitted herein.

It should also be noted that the control device can also be included by the network device, and the control device may be implemented by internal software and/or hardware modules of the network device.

The foregoing has described in detail a data control method provided by embodiments of the present application, and specific examples have been applied herein to illustrate the principles and embodiments of the present application, where the foregoing description of the embodiments is only for aiding in the understanding of the method and core idea of the present application. Meanwhile, as those skilled in the art will have modifications in the specific embodiments and application scope in accordance with the ideas of the present application, the present description should not be construed as limiting the present application in view of the above.

As shown in fig. 12, the embodiment of the present application further provides an acquisition device, which is applied in a deterministic network. Referring specifically to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an acquisition device according to an embodiment of the present application. In a possible implementation, the acquisition device 1200 may include modules or units corresponding to one to perform the methods/operations/steps/actions implemented by the acquisition device in fig. 3 and fig. 6 in the above-described method embodiments, where the units may be implemented by hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one possible implementation, the acquisition device 1200 may include: a processing unit 1202 and a transmitting unit 1203. The processing unit 1202 may be configured to perform the step of acquiring measurement data of the flow as in the above-described method embodiment and the step of determining flow characteristic information from the measurement data, and the sending unit 1203 may be configured to perform the step of sending the flow characteristic information as in the above-described method embodiment.

In this embodiment of the present application, the processing unit 1202 is configured to obtain measurement data of a flow sent by a field device to a network device, then the processing unit 1202 is further configured to determine, according to the measurement data, flow characteristic information, where the flow characteristic information is used to determine flow control information for transmission of the flow in a deterministic network, where the flow control information is used to control performance of the network device for transmitting the flow to meet an end-to-end SLA requirement of the deterministic network, and then the sending unit 1203 is configured to send the flow characteristic information to the control device. The flow characteristic information of the flow sent by the field device to the network device is obtained through the acquisition device and is sent to the control device, and then the control device obtains the flow control information of the control network device according to the flow control information, so that the performance of the network device configured based on the flow control information can be ensured to meet the end-to-end SLA (service level) requirement of the flow in the deterministic network, the end-to-end service level of the business is ensured, and the field device which does not support the deterministic network can be applied to the deterministic network. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

In another possible design, the collecting device 1200 further includes a receiving unit 1201 and a storage unit 1203. Wherein the processing unit 1202 is further configured to obtain traffic from the field device and the storage unit 1204 is configured to buffer the traffic before the processing unit 1202 obtains the measurement data of the traffic sent by the field device to the network device. Then, after the sending unit 1203 sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the receiving unit 1201 is configured to receive a first message sent by the control device, where the first message is used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information, and the sending unit 1203 is further configured to send the flow buffered in the storage unit 1204 to the network device.

In other possible designs, the receiving unit 1201, the processing unit 1202, the sending unit 1203 and the storage unit 1204 may be in one-to-one correspondence to perform the method/operation/step/action in the various possible implementations of the energy storage device in the method embodiments described above.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1202 is specifically configured to collect traffic sent by a field device to a network device, and obtain measurement data of the traffic.

In one possible design, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a maximum number of messages in each period, and a maximum message length.

In one possible design, the traffic characteristic information includes a period of the traffic, a burst accumulated data amount in the period, and a maximum message length.

In one possible design, the flow characteristic information includes at least any two of the following:

the period of the traffic, the maximum number of messages per period, the maximum message length, the number of burst messages per period, the message length, the burst accumulated data size in the period, the maximum burst length, the average rate or the peak rate.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1202 is specifically configured to obtain measurement data through an API or a network interface of the control device.

The beneficial effects of the various designed collection devices described above refer to the beneficial effects of the various implementation manners corresponding to each other in the method embodiments in fig. 3 or fig. 6, and are not described herein in detail.

It should be noted that, in the acquisition device according to the embodiment of fig. 12, the content of information interaction and execution process between each module/unit is based on the same concept, and specific content may be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiment shown in the foregoing application, and will not be repeated herein.

In addition, as shown in fig. 13, the embodiment of the application also provides a control device, which is applied to a deterministic network. Referring specifically to fig. 13, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a control device according to an embodiment of the present application. In a possible implementation, the control device 1300 may include modules or units corresponding to one to perform the methods/operations/steps/actions implemented by the control device in fig. 3 and fig. 6 in the above-described method embodiments, where the units may be implemented by hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one possible implementation, the control device 1300 may include: receiving unit 1301, processing unit 1302, and transmitting unit 1303. The receiving unit 1301 may be configured to perform the step of receiving the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device in the above-described method embodiment. The processing unit 1302 may be configured to perform the step of determining flow control information according to the flow characteristic information in the above-described method embodiment, and the transmitting unit 1303 may be configured to perform the step of transmitting flow control information in the above-described method embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the receiving unit 1301 receives flow characteristic information sent by an acquisition device, where the flow characteristic information is information obtained by the acquisition device in the deterministic network based on measurement data of a flow sent by a field device to a network device. The processing unit 1302 then determines flow control information for the flow to transmit in the deterministic network based on the flow characteristic information. And transmits the flow control information to the network device through the transmitting unit 1303. The flow characteristic information is acquired through the acquisition device, the flow control information is determined according to the flow characteristic information, the performance of the network equipment configured based on the flow control information can be ensured to meet the end-to-end SLA (service level) requirement of the flow in the deterministic network, the service level of the business end-to-end is ensured, and therefore the field equipment which does not support the deterministic network can be applied to the deterministic network. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

In other possible designs, the receiving unit 1301, the processing unit 1302, and the sending unit 1303 may perform the methods/operations/steps/actions in the various possible implementations of the energy storage device in the method embodiment in a one-to-one correspondence.

In one possible design, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to obtain device information of a network device and SLA requirements of traffic transmitted in the deterministic network before determining, according to the traffic characteristic information, traffic control information of the traffic transmitted in the deterministic network. And is specifically configured to determine flow control information based on flow characteristic information, device information, and SLA requirements.

In one possible design, the receiving unit 1301 is further configured to receive, after the control apparatus sends the flow control information to the network apparatus, a second message sent by the network apparatus, where the second message is used to indicate that the network apparatus is configured successfully based on the flow control information.

In one possible design, the sending unit 1303 is further configured to send a first message to the collecting device, where the storage unit of the collecting device caches the traffic, where the first message is used to instruct the collecting device to send the traffic.

In one possible design, the receiving unit 1302 is specifically configured to receive, through a network interface or API of the collecting device, flow characteristic information sent by the collecting device.

In one possible design, the device information includes at least any one of the following:

In one possible design, the SLA requirements include at least any one of the following:

The beneficial effects of the control device of various designs described above refer to the beneficial effects of various implementation manners corresponding to each other in the method embodiments in fig. 3 or fig. 6, and are not described herein in detail.

It should be noted that, in the control device according to the embodiment of fig. 13, the content of information interaction and execution process between each module/unit is based on the same concept as the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 3 or fig. 6 in the present application, and specific content may be referred to the description in the foregoing method embodiment shown in the present application, which is not repeated herein.

In addition, each functional module or unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist alone physically, or two or more modules or units may be integrated in one module or unit. The integrated modules or units described above may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, on a communication device 1400 may be an acquisition device in a corresponding embodiment in fig. 12, or a control device in a corresponding embodiment in fig. 13, for implementing functions of the acquisition device in fig. 12, or the control device in fig. 13, specifically, the communication device 1400 is implemented by one or more servers, where the communication device 1400 may have relatively large differences due to different configurations or performances, and may include one or more central processing units (central processing units, CPU) 1422 (for example, one or more central processing units) and a memory 1432, and one or more storage media 1430 (for example, one or more storage devices). Wherein the memory 1432 and storage medium 1430 can be transitory or persistent storage. The program stored on the storage medium 1430 may include one or more modules (not shown), each of which may include a series of instruction operations for the communication device 1400. Further, the central processor 1422 may be provided in communication with a storage medium 1430 to perform a series of instruction operations in the storage medium 1430 on the communication device 1400.

The communication device 1400 may also include one or more power sources 1426, one or more wired or wireless network interfaces 1450, and/or one or more input/output interfaces 1458.

In this embodiment, the central processor 1422 is configured to perform the operations of the acquisition device in the method in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 3 or fig. 4. For example, the central processor 1422 may be used to: the method comprises the steps of obtaining measurement data of flow sent by field equipment to network equipment, determining flow characteristic information according to the measurement data, wherein the flow characteristic information is used for determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in a deterministic network, the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network, and sending the flow characteristic information to control equipment, so that the control equipment obtains the flow control information, configures the network equipment based on the flow control information, and ensures the service level of the field equipment from service end to end. Thereby enabling field devices that do not support a deterministic network to be applied to a deterministic network. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

Alternatively, in the embodiment of the present application, the central processor 1422 is configured to perform the operations of the method control apparatus in the corresponding embodiment of fig. 3 or fig. 4. For example, the central processor 1422 may be used to: the method comprises the steps of receiving flow characteristic information sent by an acquisition device, wherein the flow characteristic information is information obtained by the acquisition device in a deterministic network based on measurement data of flow sent by field equipment to network equipment, determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information, wherein the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network, sending the flow control information to the network equipment, configuring the network equipment and guaranteeing the service level of the field equipment from service end to end. Thereby enabling field devices that do not support a deterministic network to be applied to a deterministic network. And the replacement of field devices can be avoided, and the cost is reduced.

The embodiment of the application also provides another communication device, which includes a processor, where the processor is coupled to a memory, and the memory stores instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions, so that the communication device performs any implementation of the foregoing method embodiments.

The embodiment of the application also provides a transmission system which comprises one or more field devices and/or one or more corresponding acquisition devices.

In a possible implementation manner, the transmission system further comprises the control device and the network device.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-readable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the implementations shown in the foregoing method embodiments.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the implementations shown in the foregoing method embodiments.

The present application also provides a chip or chip system, which may include a processor. The chip may further comprise or be coupled to a memory (or storage module) and/or a transceiver (or communication module), wherein the transceiver (or communication module) may be used to support wired and/or wireless communication of the chip, the memory (or storage module) may be used to store a program or a set of instructions that the processor invokes to perform operations performed by a terminal or network device in any of the possible implementations of the method embodiments, method embodiments described above. The chip system may include the above chip, and may also include the above chip and other separate devices, such as a memory (or memory module) and/or a transceiver (or communication module).

It should be further noted that the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, where elements described as separate elements may or may not be physically separate, and elements shown as elements may or may not be physical elements, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. In addition, in the drawings of the embodiment of the device provided by the application, the connection relation between the modules represents that the modules have communication connection therebetween, and can be specifically implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines.

From the above description of the embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present application may be implemented by means of software plus necessary general purpose hardware, or of course may be implemented by dedicated hardware including application specific integrated circuits, dedicated CPUs, dedicated memories, dedicated components and the like. Generally, functions performed by computer programs can be easily implemented by corresponding hardware, and specific hardware structures for implementing the same functions can be varied, such as analog circuits, digital circuits, or dedicated circuits. However, a software program implementation is a preferred embodiment in many cases for the present application. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk of a computer, etc., including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a training device, a network device, etc.) to perform the method of the embodiments of the present application.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product.

The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, exercise device, or data center to another website, computer, exercise device, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be stored by a computer or data storage devices such as training devices, data centers, and the like, that contain an integration of one or more available media. Usable media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tape), optical media (e.g., high-density digital video discs (digital video disc, DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid state disks (solid state drive, SSDs)), or the like.

Claims

1. A flow control method, the method being applied to a deterministic network comprising acquisition means, the method comprising:

the acquisition device acquires measurement data of flow sent by the field device to the network device;

the acquisition device determines flow characteristic information according to the measurement data, wherein the flow characteristic information is used for determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network, and the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network;

the acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acquiring means acquiring measurement data of traffic sent by the field device to the network device comprises:

the acquisition device acquires the flow sent by the field device to the network device and obtains the measurement data of the flow.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the acquisition device further comprises a storage unit, the method further comprising, before the acquisition device acquires measurement data of the flow rate sent by the field device to the network device:

The acquisition device acquires the flow from the field device and caches the flow in the storage unit;

after the acquisition device sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the method further comprises:

the acquisition device receives a first message sent by the control equipment, wherein the first message is used for indicating that the network equipment is successfully configured based on the flow control information;

and the acquisition device sends the traffic to the network equipment.

4. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the traffic characteristic information comprises a period of the traffic, a maximum number of messages per period, and a maximum message length.

5. A method according to any of claims 1-3, characterized in that the traffic characteristic information comprises the period of the traffic, the burst accumulated data volume in the period and the maximum message length.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the flow characteristic information comprises at least any two of:

the traffic cycle, the maximum number of messages per cycle, the maximum message length, the number of burst messages per cycle, the message length, the burst accumulated data size in cycle, the maximum burst length, the average rate and/or the peak rate.

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the acquiring means acquiring measurement data of traffic sent by a field device to a network device comprises:

the acquisition device acquires the measurement data through an application programming interface API or a network interface of the field device.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the field device comprises any one of a programmable logic controller, PLC, industrial personal computer, IPC, distributed control system, DCS, servo driver, frequency converter, input/output, I/O, station, or sensor.

9. A flow control method, characterized in that the method is applied to a deterministic network comprising a control device, the method comprising:

the control equipment receives flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device, wherein the flow characteristic information is information obtained by the acquisition device in the deterministic network based on measurement data of flow sent by the field equipment to the network equipment;

the control equipment determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information, wherein the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network;

The control device sends the flow control information to the network device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to the control device determining flow control information for transmission of the flow in the deterministic network based on the flow characteristic information, the method further comprises:

the control device obtains device information of the network device and the SLA requirement transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network;

the control device determining, according to the flow characteristic information, flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network includes:

and the control equipment determines the flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, the equipment information and the SLA requirement.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that after the control device sends the flow control information to the network device, the method further comprises:

the control device receives a second message sent by the network device, where the second message is used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein in the case where the memory unit of the acquisition device caches the traffic, the method further comprises:

The control device sends a first message to the acquisition device, wherein the first message is used for indicating the acquisition device to send the flow.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9-12, wherein the controlling device receiving flow characteristic information sent by the collecting device comprises:

the control equipment receives the flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device through a network interface or an API of the acquisition device.

14. The method according to any of claims 10-13, wherein the device information comprises at least any of:

15. The method according to any of claims 10-14, wherein the SLA requirements comprise at least any of the following:

end-to-end delay, probability value of reliability, jitter or transmission rate of the traffic transmitted in the deterministic network.

16. An acquisition device in a deterministic network, comprising:

the processing unit is used for acquiring measurement data of the flow sent by the field device to the network device;

The processing unit is further configured to determine flow characteristic information according to the measurement data, where the flow characteristic information is used to determine flow control information that is transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network, and the flow control information is used to control the performance of the network device for transmitting the flow to meet an end-to-end service level agreement SLA requirement of the deterministic network;

and the sending unit is used for sending the flow characteristic information to the control equipment.

17. The acquisition device according to claim 16, characterized in that the processing unit is specifically configured to acquire the traffic sent by the field device to the network device, and to obtain the measurement data of the traffic.

18. The acquisition device according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the acquisition device further comprises a storage unit, the processing unit being further adapted to acquire the flow from the field device before the processing unit is adapted to acquire measurement data of the flow sent by the field device to the network device;

the storage unit is used for caching the traffic;

after the sending unit sends the flow characteristic information to the control device, the collecting device further includes:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a first message sent by the control device, where the first message is used to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information;

the sending unit is further configured to send the traffic to the network device.

19. The acquisition device according to any one of claims 16-18, characterized in that the processing unit is adapted to obtain the measurement data, in particular via an application programming interface API or a network interface of the field device.

20. A control device in a deterministic network, comprising:

the receiving unit is used for receiving flow characteristic information sent by the acquisition device, wherein the flow characteristic information is information obtained by the acquisition device in the deterministic network based on measurement data of flow sent by the field device to the network device;

the processing unit is used for determining flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information, wherein the flow control information is used for controlling the performance of the network equipment for transmitting the flow to meet the end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the deterministic network;

and the sending unit is used for sending the flow control information to the network equipment.

21. The control device according to claim 20, wherein before the processing unit determines flow control information transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network according to the flow characteristic information, the processing unit is further configured to obtain device information of the network device, and the SLA requirements transmitted by the flow in the deterministic network;

the processing unit is specifically configured to determine the flow control information according to the flow characteristic information, the device information, and the SLA requirement.

22. The control device according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second message sent by the network device after the control device sends the flow control information to the network device, the second message being configured to indicate that the network device is configured successfully based on the flow control information.

23. The control apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit a first message to the collecting device, where the first message is used to instruct the collecting device to transmit the traffic, in a case where the storing unit of the collecting device buffers the traffic.

24. The control device according to any one of claims 20-23, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive the flow characteristic information sent by the collecting means, in particular through a network interface or API of the collecting means.

25. The control device according to any one of claims 20 to 24, characterized in that the device information includes at least any one of:

26. The control device according to any of claims 20-25, wherein the SLA requirements comprise at least any of the following:

27. Control device according to any one of claims 20-26, characterized in that it comprises the acquisition means as provided in any one of claims 16-19.

28. A control apparatus, characterized by comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions for execution by the processor to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 9-15.

29. An acquisition device, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions for execution by the processor to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8.

30. A field device, comprising: a collecting device as provided in any of claims 16-19 or 29.

31. The field device of claim 30, wherein the field device: the intelligent control system comprises any one of a programmable logic controller PLC, an industrial personal computer IPC, a distributed control system DCS, a servo driver, a frequency converter, an input/output I/O station or a sensor.

32. A network device, comprising: a collecting device as provided in any of claims 16-19 or 29.

33. A transmission system, the transmission system comprising: one or more field devices as provided in claim 30 and/or an acquisition device as provided in any one of claims 16 to 19 or 29;

or one or more field devices as provided in claim 31.

34. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of any one of claims 1-15 to be performed.

35. A computer program product comprising computer readable instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of any of claims 1-15 to be performed.